Tag Archives: upcycle

Because you needed another placemat tutorial. You were desperately looking for something else to make from all those gorgeous placemats you couldn’t pass up in the Target aisle. I got your back, friend.

This is EASY! Perfect for beginners for a quick project, easy enough to do the day of giving, too (guilty!). Why present a wine gift to the host/hostess in a boring gift bag when you can MAKE one that is wayyyyyy cooler?

Find yourself a lovely placemat. The one I chose has a lining on the back, but don’t fret if yours doesn’t — it isn’t necessary. Just be sure to read the notes below.

Fold your placemat in half lengthwise so the right sides are facing together.

Measure in 3-6 inches, start there and sew back and forth a few times, then sew down the length, turn and sew down the short end, and sew back and forth again.

It should look like this when you’re done!

***Now take your scissors and cut off the fabric to the right of the seam you just made on the short end. NOTE: I did this because the existing seam was too thick with the lining. If your placemat isn’t lined, you won’t need to do this. I also forgot to take a picture. Woops. But you can see it in the next one.

Now, take your scissors and cut off the fabric to the right of the long seam you just made, just down at the bottom where it meets the short sewn end. This will just make it easier to put in the gusset on the bottom of the bag.

Grab the bottom of the bag and squeeze it!

Squeeze from the folded side so the bottom pops out and use your fingers to fold over the corners toward the center. They will go in about an inch or so.

Get your needle & thread ready, and hand stitch those corners down.

Doesn’t have to be fancy. Clearly. They won’t see this so feel free to just wing it.

Do both sides so it looks like this!

Turn the bag right-side out. Isn’t she pretty?

Depending on the kind of ribbon you have, you may need to seal it so it doesn’t fray. Ever hear of this stuff?

Fray Check is AWESOME – I use it all the time. Perfect for ribbon ends & sealing off small bits that you don’t want to fray.

If you’ve been following me for a while, you KNOW I can’t pass up pretty fabric… even if it’s not really meant to be sewing fabric. But, pretty colors and patterns and textures are abundant these days in so many basic items that us creatives find inspiration everywhere, right? Yep.

These napkins have the most gorgeous print ever and I couldn’t pass them up. I recently got around to using ONE of them to make a super cute clutch that I gifted to my son’s awesome teacher, and I’m giddy to think that I still have THREE napkins left to play with — YAY!

Oh and by the way, whilst visiting my store the other day I noticed that they now have the matching placemats too…so you could also make a clutch like this one here!

Supplies:

2 Cloth napkins – mine are about 19.5″ square

Interfacing – I used a stiff one, cut to 9×19″

Ribbon or bias tape – mine was cut to 29″ but it depends on how you want to use it. If you want the decorative detail like mine that runs up and down the whole clutch, cut it to 29″ — if you just want it to tie off the button, cut it to 13″

A great button – in my opinion, the bigger the better!

Pins, thread, scissors…

Fold napkin in half, insert your ribbon or bias-tape in between the two layers and pin it closed. I put the open end of the bias-tape facing out, and left a long 10″ tail. I did this just for appearance, there is no value other than it’s a cute detail. You can leave this part out if you want and just sew the two edges of the napkin together without the ribbon/bias-tape, but you’ll need to shorter piece of ribbon for the closure.

Fold napkin in half, insert ribbon/bias-tape if using, and pin closed

Fabric sandwich – napkin edge, bias-tape, napkin edge

Leave a long tail – mine was 10″

Sew down the length of the pinned edge, going back and forth a few times at each end to tie off the thread. Be sure you’re catching the ribbon/bias-tape in your stitch if you’re using it, and continue to sew all the way down it’s length or it will open up on you.

If using bias-tape sew all the way down the length of the tail

Open your new tube of a napkin and lay it out so that the seam you just made is in the center — you can press the fabric to keep it steady.

Open the new napkin tube and shift it to lay flat with the seam in the center

Seam in center of new napkin tube

I just love this detail!

Insert your interfacing! It should fit nicely in between the two layers of fabric. Go press again, following the instructions of the interfacing (or not, whatever – you’re going to sew it in place and it’s just for structure).

Insert interfacing

Sew along the bottom edge, sewing the tube shut, catching the interfacing in your stitch.

Sew along bottom edge, making sure to catch the interfacing

Sew along the top as well — BUT if you’re using a short piece of ribbon or bias-tape, this is where you’ll insert it in the center of the edge and sew it in place. If you did it like mine, it will already be there and you’ll need to either sew over the top of it or sew up to the sides of it depending on your preference.

Sew along the top edge – add ribbon if you haven’t already

Now fold your clutch. Place it face down (ribbon/bias-tape detail down) and fold up from the bottom to where you like it, pin in place, and then fold the top down. You can play with it a bit to get the right spot. Once you have it, PRESS!

Lay detail face down,Fold and pin the bottom half up

Take the clutch back to the machine, lift up the top flap and sew up the bottom side edges just to where the pocket fabric ends. Be sure to go back and forth a few times to ecure and close the stitch.

Sew up the bottom side edges

Now hand-sew your button on the bottom portion of the clutch. Tie a knot in your bias-tape or ribbon, or seal it with some fray check.

Sew on button, knot the tail

Ta Daaaaaaa!

***I later went back and added some decorative stitching in another color thread just for fun, but didn’t get a good picture of it (of course) — you can kind of see it here, I did it on the top and bottom edges.

Affiliate Disclaimer: You know how much I love Target – that’s WHY I am an affiliate, I’m happy to promote their awesome stuff. If you buy anything online using my links, I’ll get a few pennies! 😉

Do you have an old sweater that has lost it’s shape, or has a hole in it, or was from your maternity days, or you like it but you don’t LOVE it so you never wear it? Bring it out of the closet and grab your fabric scissors because you’re about to get some really good use out of it! Literally, you can leave no scrap behind as you cut and re-use your sweater in 4 ways (5 if you count the one I thought of after the fact!).

Here we go — in pictoral form! Enjoy!

Cut torso out of sweater, save that little scrap at the bottom!

Stretch out the ends so they roll

Voila! Infinity Scarf. Oh but we’re not done yet…

Cut off the sleeves

Arm Sleeves! No? Well then how about…

Bootcuffs! Like this…

Yes! But wait.. there’s more!

Mini Crop! Pair with a tank and some boyfriend jeans. Super Cute.

You’re Welcome. 🙂

Oh and that one thing I thought of after the fact, that little scrap from the bottom? Use it as a headband or wrap it around your pony tail. Boom!

I got the sewing bug yesterday! After going through our clothes and creating a donation pile, I sat there staring at all that beautiful fabric that was about to leave my house. I couldn’t handle it.

Surely I could use some of it for something…

I grabbed the prettiest tie in the pile and got to work. I only had a little bit of time until the littlest one woke up from his nap, so this is what I came up with. It’s super easy, and very quick, and I think it’s just really darn cute! I took pictures after the fact but it should be easy to follow.

Grab a tie, some scissors, velcro, a needle and thread!

1. Cut the tie. Helps to have your glasses handy to measure

Cut the tie

2. Unfold the tie and reverse it so it is inside out, and sew across the bottom. I used a machine for this but you can do it by hand!

Unfold, Flip, Sew Across the bottom

3. Flip it back so it is right side out and sew on your velcro pieces (I did this by hand). There is a gap where the seam of the tie meets that is not sewn together, so I made sure to sew that velcro piece on to both sides to help keep the tie closed.

Sew on Velcro Pieces

4. Put your glasses in and close that baby up!

Your New Case

Now you never have a reason to get rid of a beautiful tie again! This would make a great gift for Father’s Day, just make sure you have Daddy’s permission to use one of his ties. 🙂

I’m all about easy these days, what with the 4 month old and the potty training 2.5 year old running me ragged. I want easy hair, easy makeup, easy and practical clothes…anything to make this chaos easier.

No Sew T-Shirt Hack

During one of my nesting phases I pulled out a few T-shirts from the hubbo’s collection of throw-aways that I thought I could turn into something fun and useful for myself.

So, here is one of those upcycle projects that is so easy, you’ll want to go steal all of your hubbo’s shirts and make your own! It’s perfect for working out or hanging out around the house in — and yeah, I totally wore it to the grocery store.

DIY T-Shirt Hack – Easy, No-Sew Upcycle Project

Supplies:

Large T-Shirt – knit material, preferrably soft and well worn, bonus if it belonged to someone you love

Scissors – sharp ones or you’ll get hacky

Feet. You’ll see.

1. Lay your shirt flat on the ground

Lay shirt flat on the ground

2. Cut shirt as shown below. It doesn’t have to be perfect, and remember since it is knit, the edges will roll. If you want a deeper plunge at the neck, or longer armholes, make it so!

Cut shirt as shown here

3. Discard the arms and collar, but save that handy bottom piece!

Save bottom part of shirt

4. Cut the bottom piece at the seams so you have two strips, and throw one away – you only need one!

Cut at seam to make one long piece

5. Flip your shirt over so the backside is on top facing you. Gather the center of the shirt in between those two armholes with your hand.

Gather back of shirt with hand

6. Center the strip you kept from the bottom of the shirt underneath the gathered back of the shirt.

Center the strip you cut from the bottom of the shirt underneath the gather

7. This is where your feet come in to play! Wedge those babies at the top of the straps so you can pull on the shirt without it going anywhere, and start to twist the ends of the fabric strip around the gather.

Feet make great tools – use them to hold the shirt while you twist. Thankfully my toes are hidden, because I sure need a pedi!

8. Wrap it around and around until you have two short ends left and tie them in a knot (or a bow if you want a bow?). You can choose whether you want it on the outside or the inside.

Tie a knot or a bow, on the inside or the outside (your preference) when you have two short ends left

9. That’s it. Just ssssstreeeeeeetchhh your shirt out in every direction so the edges curl and you’re good to go

Stretch it out

The finished product — I’m wearing a black sports bra underneath but I sometimes branch out and wear a hot pink or flourescent yellow one (fashion maven, I am).